Staff Reporter

Harare land barons and illegal settlers have been put on notice and warned that the long arm of the law would soon descend on them heavily.

In a statement yesterday, Harare Secretary for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Tafadzwa Muguti said that there had been a resurgence of land invasions by land barons in the Harare Metropolitan Province with land invasions taking place in most of our wetlands and land earmarked for development projects.

 “There has been a resurgence of land invasions by land barons in Harare Metropolitan Province with land invasions taking place in most of our wetlands and land earmarked for development projects. Recently land barons invaded the Monavale vlei which is one of the World’s acclaimed Ramsar sites. Whilst in Mbare land earmarked for the Mbare Urban Renewal Development Project was invaded by space barons who took advantage of the delay in approval of building permits by the City of Harare,” said Muguti.

Muguti added that the land invasions in Harare were largely influenced by a false belief that land invaders would be regularised by the Government under the on-going land regulation programme.

According to Muguti, all illegal structures will be demolished and land barons will also be arrested and prosecuted.

“The office of the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution has therefore established a Provincial Task Force comprising of the Harare, Chitungwiza Municipality, Ruwa Local Board and Epworth Local Board to address the menace of land barons. The Taskforce shall remove all illegal land invaders, demolish any illegal structures and arrest all land invaders as well as the land barons responsible  for selling land illegally,” said Muguti.

Muguti added that Harare Metropolitan Province had a zero tolerance policy on corruption and lawlessness.

Illegal settlement in Harare has for some time been a thorny issue in Harare as land barons have been illegally parcelling land to desperate home seekers.